I’ll be honest with you, for quite some time I wasn’t a big fan of LinkedIn.
The reason for that was that I thought LinkedIn was somewhat unemotional; nothing but a list of activities that I had done in the past.
But I’ve found that the opposite can occur. If you personalize, customize and improve upon your LinkedIn profile in the right way it can actually be one of the most powerful (and easy) ways to build your personal brand online.
The question that remains is: how do you build the perfect LinkedIn profile? Here are 7 quick fixes to greatly improve your LinkedIn profile today.
1. Customize
This is such a ridiculously easy fix, but it can deliver great results for both your LinkedIn profile and your general online presence.
LinkedIn (like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) allows you to customize the URL of your social media profile.
If you simply go to your profile, you’ll see the URL of your LinkedIn profile just below your profile picture. If you put your cursor on the URL, you’ll see a settings-sign pop up. Click on it and in a second you’ll see your public profile URL displayed on the right side of your screen. Change it to LinkedIn.com/yourname and that’s it!
Now when people Google your name, your LinkedIn profile will be one of the first links to pop up.
2. Personalize
More than anything, your LinkedIn profile should reflect you. Now it might reflect the professional version of you, but it should be you nonetheless.
I’ll admit that when you’re filling in your list of previous activities like your experiences, your education and the organizations you were a part of, there’s little room for personalization. But, that’s where the summary on top comes in.
Make sure that you write a summary that is clear, but also personal. Your summary is the perfect way to quickly go through your activities in the past, but also show your vision for the future. Next to that, it’s the perfect opportunity to tell a bit more about who you are as a person.
3. Design
Of course LinkedIn isn’t Instagram, so the design of your profile might not be the first thing you’d think of.
But think again. If your profile picture isn’t on-point, employers and recruiters will skip over your profile in a heartbeat.
You don’t need a $ 400 headshot, but a screenshot of you in a bar with your friend’s arm around you that you’ve cropped into a profile picture isn’t going to cut it either.
Whatever profile picture you do decide to take, think about how it represents you.
4. Link
Link up! Make sure you mention your portfolio, presentations you’ve done, videos and any other social media profiles that you have that would be a relevant addition to your LinkedIn profile. People will check out your LinkedIn to see who you are as a professional, as well as a person and the more ways you can show them that the better.
One more note on linking up: if you have a personal website or a blog, this should definitely be displayed on your LinkedIn as both are a great way to reveal more information about you and your expertise. So if you don’t have a personal website or a blog yet, it’s definitely worth considering.
5. Recommend
Getting recommendations on LinkedIn is one of the most powerful ways to promote yourself professionally, especially so because it’s in fact someone else who’s promoting you. On your LinkedIn profile you’ll want to show people why you’re the right person to hire and work with, and if others share that opinion, it’s all the more reliable!
6. Connect
Simply connecting with the people you meet is one of the easiest and most impactful ways to improve your LinkedIn profile. The more people you have in your network, the more people you can reach through your message.
Make connecting with others a habit; when you’ve met people or worked with them – even if it was only for a brief period – connect with them on LinkedIn. And if you can, personalize the invite. Nobody likes “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn,” but everybody likes a more personal follow up.
7. Update
People are going to want to know what you’re working on. I’m not saying you need to update your profile on a daily basis, but by simply sharing interesting articles that you run into, posts you’re writing, or websites you encounter you can keep your followers engaged.
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